The Deepest Cave

Located in the politically ambiguous Republic of Abkhazia, the Voronya Cave (Crows’ Cave, in Russian) plunges 7,188 feet (2,191 m) into the depths of the Arabika Massif, a limestone formation dating back to the Age of Dinosaurs. Also known as the Krubera cave (after Russian geographer Alexander Kruber), the cave was discovered in 1960 and has surpassed Austria’s Lamprechtsofen as the world’s deepest cave and the only known cave deeper than 2,000 meters (6,561.5 ft).

Credit must be given to the the Ukrainian Speleological Association for establishing a series of depth records in the Voronya Cave and its many subsidiary caves. Beginning in the early 1980s, the Ukr.S.A. began deliberately clearing blockages and expanding squeeze points so that cave explorers could penetrate ever deeper into the interconnected caves. The current record depth of 7,188 feet (2,191 m) was set in the autumn of 2007 but as the Ukr.S.A. mounts annual expeditions to the Voronya Cave system, it’s possible those figures could change.

The Most Remote Land

A “pole of inaccessibility” is that point on a continent that is the greatest distance from any ocean in any direction – the North American PofA is in South Dakota. There’s a hierarchy among poles of inaccessibility, however, and the most inaccessible of all lies in the frigid wastelands of Antarctica.

In 1958 the Soviet Union established a base at the Antarctic Pole of Inaccessibility which they quickly abandoned. Before leaving the base, the Soviet team installed a golden bust (OK, it’s plastic) of Lenin to oversee the icy landscape and mark the USSR’s global reach. Lenin’s eyes gaze back wistfully in the direction of Moscow – on the bright side, he won’t be troubled by pigeons. Below the bust, nearly inundated by years of snow, is a small hut that contains a guest book for visitors to sign. I’m guessing it’s a very thin periodical.